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253 series
The 253 series is a Japanese Limited Express electric multiple unit. Built from 1990 to 2002 for JR East, the 253 series sets were mainly used on the Narita Express airport rail link service, but are now exclusively used on Nikkō and Kinugawa services jointly operated with the Tobu Railway. History Originally branded the N'EX, the 253 series was designed in 1990 to be a train to be exclusively used on Narita Express services. These entered service on 19 March 1991 as a dedicated train that would take commuters from the Greater Tokyo Area to Narita International Airport and were specifically designed for that role. Originally, twelve six-car sets, numbered Ne01 to Ne11 and Ne101, and nine three-car sets, numbered Ne102 to Ne110 were produced; two more six-car sets, numbered Ne201 and Ne202, were built in 2002 to cope with increased traffic during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. However, with the introduction of the newer E259 series sets, the use of the 253 series on the Narita Express services waned; all three-car sets were removed from service on 1 October 2009 and all were retired from Narita Express services on 30 June 2010, after which most sets were retired and scrapped. After their retirement from the Narita Express services, sets Ne107 and Ne108 were resold to the Nagano Electric Railway for use on their Snow Monkey Limited Express services and reclassified as 2100 series sets in June 2010. The two new-build sets, Ne201 and Ne202, were later rebuilt in November 2010 to become 253-1000 series sets OM-N01 and OM-N02 to replace the 189 and 485 series sets then used on those services. As of 2018, only sets OM-N01 and OM-N02 are in service with JR East, both based at Ōmiya Depot. The 253 series one of two recipients of the 1992 Laurel Prize (an award for vehicles that entered service the previous year having the most outstanding functional and design features). Design The 253 series uses a slightly streamlined design with, originally, a white body with red, gray and black accents. The white body is supposed to evoke the color of the arctic, the red accents are supposed to evoke the color of the horizon when the sun rises, the gray accents are supposed to evoke the color of the stratosphere and the black accents are supposed to evoke the color of the universe. The N'EX logo and an airplane could be seen splashed on the cab cars. Sets OM-N01 and OM-N02 have a completely different color scheme and a slightly different design; both sets adopt an orange body with yellow, red and black accents. The 253 series' cab cars are externally extremely similar in design to that of the 255 series cars, with the only difference being some minor cosmetic changes; in fact, the 255 series' body design was based directly on the 253 series' body design. Specifications Construction is of steel. End cars are 20.93 meters long while intermediate cars are 20.5 meters long. Traction motors, when originally built, were powered by a resistor-controlled traction system, which was considered obsolete at the time due to the presence of the variable frequency drive; when sets Ne201 and Ne202 were refurbished to become sets OM-N01 and OM-N02, they were fitted with Tōyō Denki Seizō insulated gate bipolar transistor variable frequency drives which produce a melodic whine when the sets accelerate from idle. With the refurbishment, both sets received new interiors, large frontal LED displays, and had various other changes such as the changing of the green car to a standard-class car, removal of the front gangway door, and the changing of the brakes among other refinements. The 253 series is equipped with an early version of a musical horn that is standard on most of JR East's Limited Express fleet. The musical horn is usually blasted when a set is about to depart. References *Wikipedia.org Category:JR Group trains Category:Electric Trainsets Category:Kinki Sharyo locomotives Category:Tokyu Car locomotives